No domestic company shall make or issue any contracts or policies of insurance or annuity or pure endowment contracts until it has obtained from the commissioner a certificate, in such form as he may prescribe, stating that the company has complied with the conditions set forth in this section and all other provisions of law, and authorizing it to make or issue such policies or contracts. No such certificate shall be issued until the commissioner is satisfied, by such examination as he may make and such evidence as he may require, that the company has complied with the laws of the commonwealth, adopted a proper system of accounting, and employed a competent accountant, a competent claim manager and a competent and experienced underwriter, nor until the commissioner is satisfied, by such examination as he may make and by an affidavit filed with him as required under section four and by such other evidence as he may require, that the company is without liabilities, except such organization expenses as the commissioner shall approve as reasonable, and except, in the case of a stock company or a mutual company with a guaranty capital, its liabilities to stockholders for the amount paid in for shares of stock, nor, in the case of a life company, until he is satisfied, by such examination as he may make and such evidence as he may require, that the company has employed a competent and experienced actuary, and that its officers and directors are of good repute and competent to manage a life company; provided, that if the commissioner is of the opinion that the granting of such a certificate to any company would, in any case, be prejudicial to the public interest, he may in his discretion refuse to issue it.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 32